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Xootic is the association of alumni and trainees of the OOTI (“Ontwerpersopleiding Technische Informatica”, lit. Designers course Software Technology) program, which is one of the post-masters programs in technological design of Eindhoven University of Technology.

Xootic’s efforts are directed towards organizing various activities, providing the program and its trainees with practical information, and increasing the familiarity of the industry with the OOTI program. This information server is intended to acquaint outsiders with the existence of Xootic and to inform members about current activities.

This October, many XOOTIC members came together to celebrate the 30th lustrum of PDEng Software Technology (OOTI) at a symposium. The overarching topic was “Smart Industry” / “Industry 4.0” and we saw speakers on various aspects of this interesting development. In addition, we had some great lunch and snacks to accompany the breaks, in which XOOTIC members and OOTI staff caught up with each other. In short, it was both a great social and learning event for all involved. For more information and some nice pictures, please check out the official PDEng ST Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TUePDEngST/

As any association, we have to comply to GDPR and are taking steps to do so. The purpose for XOOTIC to hold your data is being able to contact you and we have sent out a message in the newsletter with the exact details and steps you can take. In short: We removed all unnecessary data from our database and made sure it is stored securely with a limited amount of people that have access to it. Of course, we will do our best to respond quickly to requests for changes in the data we hold. If you have any other questions or remarks, feel free to contact us!

We had an amazing weekend experience at the Belgian Ardennes. Taking our cars we got there on a Friday night and prepared for a couple of days full of activities!
We rented bungalows at the Sunclass Holiday Park. These nice and little houses proved to be well equipped for our weekend adventure!

Saturday morning we went to the river at Bomal to pick up the kayaks. In groups of three, most of us navigated the river until Hamoir. The river was fast since it had rained the day before so it presented a bigger challenge than expected. Good thing that we were able to recover the energies invested with a super barbecue in the evening.

On Sunday we went back to Bomal in order to start a cycling track that would take us through the surrounding mountains. Not everyone managed to complete it, but it still was a hard challenge! Good thing that Bomal had a lovely market and a great variety of restaurants to choose the last supper before going back to NL.

Industry 4.0 – How big of a deal is it? This XOOTIC lecture took place in Zwarte Doos, where we had a great buffet dinner and caught up with our fellow XOOTICs. After the lecture, we also had some drinks and discussion about the lecture. In these activities, we mingled and enjoyed, also between generations.

So, Industry 4.0: what does it mean, and how will it affect factories in the future? In this lecture we got the opinion of Jeroen de Bruijn of FESTA. He explained that Industry 4.0 is a must given the developing market needs: I want it now, I want it customized to my needs, and I want you to take care of the service. Of course, not every product, e.g. a pack of milk, fits directly in that category. The main trend is expected to be: more local and flexible factories, where data is the new oil.

FESTA, together with Unity040 and CORDIS , attempts to provide a tool-chain to do complete software-based development before hardware manufacturing. As XOOTIC we voiced some concerns here: we cannot measure everything in physics e.g. an ASML machine, even formally proven pieces of code can fail in a new context, and most importantly: where are the practical examples? How do you think this will continue: what part can we do digital-only, and what part will we always need a physical prototype for?

I am happy so many of you (almost 40!) turned up for this lecture, and that you enjoyed both the social aspect and the lecture content. Next time, let’s do it even better with the help of your survey input! Hope to see you all then.

Xootic has celebrated its 5th lustrum (25th anniversary) in December 2016 during an evening at ASML, our diamond sponsor, which annually invites Xootic members and OOTI alumni for an event. Xootic Alumni Association has decided to combine both events.

The event included presentations by Fred Huizinga and Jafad Fatemi on the subject of Computer Aided Engineering.

Abstract presentation Fred Huizinga:

Virtual Product Development @ ASML

Computer Aided Engineering, CAE in short, is a broad term used to indicate the use of computer software in product design, analysis, validation, simulation; as well as the resolution of engineering, manufacturing and process problems. Computer Aided Engineering is used in a wide range of industries including the semiconductor industry for system; chip design and manufacturing.

At ASML CAE has become an indispensable method for the efficient and effective development process of TWINSCAN tools. In this presentation, Fred Huizinga, will explain how CAE is currently used and integrated into the development process; and he will provide a glimpse on what the future plans are for CAE in the ASML tool design and development process.

At the end of the evening we celebrated the anniversary of Xootic Alumni Association with a fun and entertaining Quiz.

17:30 Welcome – featuring a mini-exposition of “30 years ASML” in building 7 at the reception
18:00 Dinner
19:00 Wilbert Alberts: The challenges in Applying Model Based System Engineering at ASML
19:30 Markus Völter: DSLs – the state of the art in 2014
20:30 Informal drinks, giving you the chance to network with other Xootic members and discuss with the speakers
21:30 End

Abstract

DSLs – the state of the art in 2014
—————————————————-
Domain Specific Languages are an old idea: align a language with a
particular domain, and you get better expressiveness of the language
relative to that domain. You can write more concise, more analyzable
programs and also synthesize executable code. However, over the last
years, the tools for building DSLs have matured to the point where you
can build non-trivial languages, compose and extend them modularly,
and use diverse notations such as text, prose, tables, math and graphics,
all in a single model. In this talk I will provide a perspective on the state
of the art of DSLs in 2014, focussing mostly on our recent experience
with JetBrains MPS. The session will be a few slides, and mostly demos.

Bios

Bio of Markus Völter:
Dr. Markus Völter is an authority in the field of Model Driven Engineering, Domain Specific Languages and Language Engineering. He is an often-asked speaker at various conferences such as Code Generation, EclipseCon, and SPLASH. He is also the author of the DSL Engineering book and one of the founders of mbeddr (mbeddr.com) as well as the Software Engineering Radio podcast (www.se-radio.net).Bio of Wilbert Alberts:
After an education in computer science, OOTI and a Phd, dr. ir. Wilbert Alberts PDEng started as an embedded software engineer at ASML. During his career at ASML, he gained practical experience in embedded software development. Wilbert has grown into the role of Software Architect and Team Leader of the Innovation Architects team. A team that is responsible for spotting innovations that can increase efficiency and productivity of ASML’s software development developers. Often this involves identifying and investigating means to exploit the benefits of Model Driven Engineering and its possible deployment in ASML.